PLUS Come and explore Odyssey of the Mind Challenges (FREE)Odyssey of the Mind is an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college.

Sample Mechanical Challenge

﻿Teams will build, ride on, and drive a no-cycle, recycling vehicle. It will pick up discarded items, adapt them in some way, and then deliver them to places to be re-used. The vehicle must travel without pedaling for propulsion. In addition, the driver will have an assistant worker riding on the vehicle that will help process the trash items being repurposed. They will make an unplanned stop along the way to perform a random act of kindness. ​

2017 Structure Challenge

Creativity can be defined by using only what you have to get a job done. In this problem, teams will design, build, and test a structure made of only balsa wood and glue that will balance and support as much weight as possible. The structure must include sets of balsa pieces of predetermined sizes and quantities as listed in the problem. Some sets must be parts of the structure while others, if incorporated, will receive additional score - the more sets of pieces used, the higher the score! Teams will present a performance with a theme about using what's available and that incorporates weight-placement and assembling original team creations.